


Anything, Annie

by EmeraldLatias



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: F/M, no beta we die like Glenn, there's also implied Dimileth because I have no chill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:34:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28460217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmeraldLatias/pseuds/EmeraldLatias
Summary: It doesn’t matter what Felix does or says, he can’t seem to convince Annette that he is serious when he says that he’s not making fun of her or her songs. But when a spell goes awry and leaves him with a lingering side effect he can’t seem to shake, he can’t help but wonder – can he turn this misfortune into an opportunity to finally change her tune?
Relationships: Annette Fantine Dominic/Felix Hugo Fraldarius
Comments: 12
Kudos: 29
Collections: Netteflix Secret Seteth 2020





	1. Accidents, Advice

**Author's Note:**

  * For [NightMereBear](https://archiveofourown.org/users/NightMereBear/gifts).



> This is my Felannie server Secret Seteth gift for NightMereBear. There wasn’t a specific prompt wishlist for my gift so I’m taking the liberty of pretending like the directive that it ‘doesn’t matter, up for anything’ is the prompt for fun. Hope you like it! :D

Felix should have known better than to approach her when she was mumbling something under her breath with her head tilted downward as if she was having an intense stare down with a book. Or while she was deliberately seated at the table furthest away from the entrance in the library with her back turned and her hands raised in the air, doing what looked like lazy circles.

Should have. But he couldn’t help himself.

When her words were not directed at anyone in particular, they often turned into snippets of songs with enough time and space. And with his newest certification under his belt for Assassin, he was more than capable of the kind of stealth needed to let a moment of silence linger just enough to increase the odds.

But while he could be quiet, the same could not be said for Annette herself as she tried to scoot her chair back without the aid of her hands; she let out an indignant yelp when she almost tipped over the chair in the process.

 _Almost_ being the operative word because his lightning-quick reflexes stopped her from hitting her head against the table behind her as he found himself rushing over and grabbing the back of the chair.

But with a flash of dazzling pale purple light, much unlike her regular wind spells which glowed green, he realized why she had her back turned and her hands in the air a little too late.

The spell instinctively encircled him before he could even blink, coiled around his body with the kind of heat that straddled that fine line between pleasant and uncomfortable. It was a small mercy that he’d had the wherewithal to right her airborne chair legs the split second before he slowly crumpled to the ground, leaning against a leg of the table leg behind him for support.

_“Oh, no, no, no…”_

Whatever this was, wasn’t good if she immediately bolted from her seat to crouch down and stare at him with her already-large doe eyes widened even larger in horror.

A nap sounded good right about now, he thought absent-mindedly as the heat subsided to a dull full body throb. Sure, he didn’t like the sound or look of her panicking but the lethargy was sapping his mental capacity to address that concern.

“…Annette…the hell?”

…Or at least the capacity to string words together in a coherent way.

Maybe it would be for the best if he stopped moving his mouth to match how prone the rest of his body was, he decided. This was Annette after all, she’ll eventually volunteer the information whether he asked for it or not.

“I’m sorry Felix, I didn’t mean to!”

He wanted to say that it was overly concerning that she didn’t even launch into a tired diatribe about sneaking up on her but again, that required spoken words. Not a good idea. Especially when she loomed even closer, looking at him square in the eye.

Felix wasn’t a spiritual man by any measure, but he found himself praying that whatever this spell was did not allow her to read his mind. Especially when she moved his bangs with her pointer finger before placing her palm on his forehead.

“You feel a little warm but you’re not burning up so that’s good.” she reassured. “I’m going to try something, ok? Stay right there.”

She rose to full height and started slowly backing away from the tables, her eyes firmly locked with his with each measured step she took to widen the gap. Was she expecting him to turn into a beast if she blinked?

When this kept up for a few more steps backward, and a few blinks to boot, Felix’s irritation prevailed over self-preservation as he slowly got up from the floor.

“Annette, mind explaining what’s going _whoa_ —"

Another burst of purple light surrounded him and, within a blink of an eye, he found himself staring into hers after some invisible force transported him across the room. There was so little personal space between them he could see the faintest of freckles scattered across the bridge of her nose and cheeks — something he’d never noticed before — amid a blossoming blush.

“I was working on learning the Rescue spell.” she confessed with a slight wince as she tried to pretend like she had not hit the library shelf behind her when she backed up.

“So everything should be back to normal now that I’ve been transported to you?”

She gave him three quick nods in succession. 

“Yes! That _most_ definitely is how Rescue spells work. So you’re good.”

“…Alright. I’ll leave you to practice that then.”

He was about to turn around and do just that when she grabbed his wrist.

“—Don’t go.”

The swordsman cocked his head. Was he…hearing things?

“I said…don’t go. Please?”

Ok, so he wasn’t hearing things. But still, considering her predilection to call him every less-than-positive epithet under the sun, he doubted she had a sudden change in heart simply because of a delayed spell effect.

He gingerly freed himself from her grip and the electric sparks down his spine.

“I can stay. But you need to tell me why.”

“I…I think I messed up. I shouldn’t have been able to move you like that.”

Ah, there it was.

“I don’t follow. Didn’t you just say—”

“—I know what I said, Felix. I’m just worried because I don’t understand how this happened, ok?” she interrupted, the stress radiating from her in waves, “I was quite literally testing the spell on a wooden doll for hours on end and not once did I get it to move an inch.”

“Would a spell like that even work on an inanimate object?”

“Yes, _er,_ actually, the texts didn’t specify limitations like that but _-Ugh,_ you’re not helping!”

“And neither are you.” he countered, trying and failing to keep out the exasperation in his tone. In a last-ditch effort to course-correct, he paused just long enough to reset with a sigh. “Take a step back here - you said you shouldn’t have been able to move me. Why?”

“Everything I’ve read on the subject mention that Rescue or Warp won’t take hold unless you can visualize your target at the desired destination.” she explained. “It’s not a spell you can prepare in advance and select your target later because you need to clearly picture the outcome for anything to happen. Well, not unless you start from scratch again.”

“I understand now. What did you want me to do then?”

“I…haven’t gotten that far yet.” Annette admitted, looping a stray hair behind her ear. “Um, how do you feel right now?”

“I feel fine.”

“Hm. What to do…”

Annette walked away from her spot against the library shelf and made a wide circle around him to return to the library table she’d left. Felix belatedly turned around to follow the arc and watched her crouch down out of view to pick something up.

At a loss for what to do — mostly since he didn’t think it was quite the time to talk about the errand he was actually here for — Felix took a step back to lean against the shelf.

With another dazzling flash of purple light, Felix was now certain there would be no time today to talk about that as Annette apparated in front of him, careening into his chest from sheer momentum alone. 

_“—Ffmph!”_

It was a small miracle that no one else was in the library or a few rogue books hadn’t fallen over from the force of impact. Or that it didn’t all go boom for that matter.

With her hands on either side of him and holding onto the lip of the shelf ledge of the for stability, it would have painted a very colourful picture ripe with sordid misunderstandings if someone had seen them. Annette must have been on the same wavelength since she practically leaped off him the instant she got her bearings back, looking rather mortified.

“I have a tentative plan.” he offered. “First order of business will be to figure out how many paces we’re afforded before the spell activates. The second will be to visit the infirmary. Sound reasonable?”

“I’m on board with the first part but can’t we…just see if it passes first?”

“I can wait for an hour, maybe. But considering it’s mid-afternoon already, I wouldn’t waste time on account of pride. Especially not when the march to Derdriu is next week.”

Annette grimaced a little but said nothing, opting to take measured steps backward while counting under her breath. She got several mouthed words in before the telltale flash of light enveloped her before she apparated in front of him, a half-step away.

“Ten paces. If you have a longer stride to your steps, it may be less for you.” she quietly said. “Do you think Manuela’s going to…you know…”

Felix raised a brow, not entirely sure where she was going with this. “…be drunk? Probably. It’s Saturday.”

The slight confused look on her face suggested that was not the question she was asking but at this point, he went along with her anyway when she decided to abandon the question in favour of making a beeline for the library entrance. Literally and figuratively.

These side-effects weren’t going to fix themselves, after all.

* * *

From the moment they crossed the threshold, Felix was hit across the face with the realization of what Annette had been hinting at in the library.

While he was no stranger to the odd visit here after particularly hard-fought battles that relied more on brute strength and luck than strategy, he wasn’t one to languish in an infirmary bed if had the capacity to hobble out the door; it was almost tradition at this point for Manuela to scold him about his inability to rest.

Needless to say, voluntarily walking through the door with nary a scratch to be seen piqued the former songstress’s attention. Once Annette followed suit and appeared right behind him, he could practically see the cogs turning in her head. Felix was certain that they were turning even harder after they sat themselves beside each other at the table in the middle of the infirmary to join her.

Thankfully, the metaphorical clock finally stopped ticking when Annette launched into a _very factual_ and _reasonable_ explanation of why they were here instead of being cause for further alarm.

“Believe it or not, I have heard of this sort of thing before,” Manuela began, shifting her gaze towards him, “but you’re not going to like my answer on how to fix this.”

“And I don’t like how you’re staring at me.” he groused.

“Oh, was I staring? How rude of me. I guess I was waiting for you to say something. And now that you have, let’s get back to the matter at hand.” Manuela coquettishly added before turning her attention back to Annette. “The bad news is there is no spell that will cure this. Good news is that it will go away on its own in time but it’s a matter of the mind.”

“…Matter of the mind?” Annette parroted.

“Yes dear. Do you know why Silence is a Faith-based spell and not Reason-based?”

Felix shrugged. “…Because you’re praying the enemy will shut up?”

Manuela shot him a look. “While I have to admit that you are technically-correct, I don’t appreciate the flippant answer.” she replied before going back to ignoring him yet again. “But yes, it’s faith-based because you’re believing in an outcome with no visual confirmation it worked. Warp and Rescue are two sides of the same coin. They both require the faith that the person will return from the aether to the desired place where they weren’t before.”

“I know that Professor Manuela.” Annette answered. “But all my texts say that nothing should have happened if I couldn’t visualize the destination. Why are Felix and I warping short distances like this instead?”

“Because visualizing the destination wasn’t the problem, it was your faith in the outcome.” she prefaced. “You believed you couldn’t cast Rescue because of your practice with the wooden doll. And so, when Felix was hit by the spell that was involuntarily released, doubt made you assume the worst and so it became something other than a Rescue spell. If I had to wager a guess, you two keep warping to one another because that is the likely conclusion you came to.”

“So that leaves the obvious question of how to fix this self-fulfilling prophecy.” Felix pointed out, folding his arms. “I’m assuming that telling Annette that I’m not going to warp back to her whenever I walk eleven paces away isn’t the solution.”

“Correct.” Manuela agreed. “My advice is to have a bit of fun.”

While it was strange that there were no dirty looks or quips peppering the response to his observation, the actual response was stranger. Judging by a stolen glance in Annette’s direction, she was of the same opinion based on the confused look on her face.

“Pardon?” she squeaked.

“Seiros, why is youth is wasted on the youth? You two heard me correctly. You need to have fun.” Manuela reiterated with a dramatic flourish of her hands before she placed her elbows on the table and steepled her fingers together for a moment. “Let me put it this way, have you ever had a song stuck in your head?”

Felix could practically feel Annette’s glare radiating off of her when he dared to nod along in unison.

“Thinking about the song doesn’t make it disappear. It makes it far worse.” Manuela elaborated. “You have to do other things to get your mind off the song. Once you focus on other things for long enough, the spell’s effects should run its course without you even noticing.”

“I’m not sure if that will work if Felix’s very presence is a constant reminder that I messed up.”

“If fun is entirely out of the question, do a chore you would normally do together.” Manuela suggested with a lackadaisical shrug. “And if you have never done anything together in your entire academic career and during this war, you might be able to rid yourself of the effects if you have a long nap together. Though that may only work if your mind is not too busy parsing the events of the day in your dreams.”

“Can we take a nap in here then?”

“Seeing as the Brawling Tournament is happening shortly, I’m afraid the beds are likely to be in high demand for injured participants.” Manuela explained, gesticulating to the currently unoccupied beds to their left.

“Soooo…you wouldn’t be opposed to us entering the brawling tournament then?”

Felix nearly choked on his own spit at the mental image of her in training gauntlets trying to punch people with zero reach.

“Annette, I am not going to let you get pummeled just because you don’t want to share a bed. I’ll compete. You heal them up.”

“Oooh, you know, that’s an even better idea. Let’s do that!”

Before he could even say anything else, Annette already rocketed out of her seat and was already out the door.

Now alone with Manuela at the table, she tossed him a level look.

“You…do realize that rearranging furniture in an unoccupied room to move them to the opposite wall is an option right?” she dryly commented, “Either Bernadetta or Claude’s old rooms would make for excellent choices in case you need a hint.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

Then he was forcibly warped out of the room and crashed right into Annette in the corridor.

Thankfully, no one saw that either.


	2. Approach, Appeal

“So, do you normally compete in tournaments?” Annette asked after Felix grabbed the training gauntlets provided by the tournament organizer. She was sitting against the pillar closest to the sign-up area in the far-right corner.

“It’s been a while.” he admitted as he secured the gauntlets to his forearms. “I stopped competing in sword tournaments because they provided no challenge for me and I had no need for the prizes. Today should be interesting though.”

“Because of the, you know…” Annette looked around furtively for interlopers before stage whispering. “ _…10 paces limit?_ ”

Felix shook his head. “No. All these tournaments have small boundary limits to accommodate spectators. It won’t be an issue.” he replied. “Today should be interesting because the use of gauntlets is relatively-rare in the Kingdom army - it’ll be hard to tell who’ll show up. I’m still expecting a clean sweep though.”

“Is that so, Fraldarius?” a third voice chimed in from behind them.

“Professor!” Annette practically yelped. “You’re entering?”

Felix turned around to see that the professor was indeed strapping on her own pair of training gauntlets.

“I am. We were one person short so I volunteered.” she confirmed. “Thank you for signing up last minute as well. It would have been a shame to cancel the tournament.”

“Right.” he absent-mindedly agreed. “This doesn’t mean I’ll go easy on anyone facing me though.”

“I wouldn’t ever expect you to, Felix.” Byleth said with a polite smile. “See you in the finals?”

He gave her a curt nod in kind. “I wouldn’t expect anything less.”

“Very well. Good luck.”

After the professor walked away from their brief chat, the swordsman turned to face Annette once more. For some reason, she looked rather amused for someone who was just spooked a few seconds ago.

“What’s that look on your face for?”

“It’s funny seeing you act like Mr. Tough Guy in front of the professor.”

“I don’t understand what I said to her is any different from what I said to you. Enlighten me.”

“Maybe it’s not so much what you said so much as how I noticed that you immediately straightened your posture when you realized who was talking. And how you lowered your voice a bit.” she joked. “Professor Byleth is a pretty formidable opponent so this’ll be entertaining to watch even if you don’t get your clean sweep.”

“S-shut up. Whose side are you even on?”

“I’m on Team _‘Let’s Not Send Anyone to the Infirmary’._ ” she cheerily answered, raising her hands to pretend she was waving some invisible flags.

“Tch. Fair enough.”

Before she could protest, he walked over to her pillar and sat beside her to survey the scene before them.

As he expected, other than Byleth, there was no one else of note participating. Just battalion members and soldiers in the army he couldn’t put a name to even if there was a sword pointed at his throat. Felix was certain he and Byleth would be seeded fairly high and only meet at the finals.

Being familiar with her efficient grappling style from past sparring sessions, he was also confident they would win their rounds without inflicting many injuries that the supplied vulneraries alone couldn’t fix. Annette wouldn’t have much to do outside of watching them so maybe this would help her worry less in the interim.

At least Manuela’s idea was a solid backup though he wasn’t keen on riffling through Claude’s room — _who knew what kind of traps he laid in wait for intruders_ — or rearranging Bernadetta’s — _something felt inherently wrong about disturbing her self-proclaimed sanctuary though it was just a room with dusty furniture, stuffed animals and dead plants_ _at this point_ — in case the beds ended up filled anyway. One less matter to deal with in case the spell didn’t break by tonight.

Then a thought occurred to him as they continued to watch the organizers set up the arena space — at least a minute had passed and there were still no proclamations of his villainy, no admonishments of his evilness, no decrees of dastardly behaviour. Just comfortable silence.

Then a second thought occurred to him.

Perhaps, this predicament was an opportunity.

She couldn’t question his motives to why he was sticking around when he couldn’t go far. Manuela had told them that she needed to get her mind off the misfire to stop the rumination keeping them tethered together so…why not do all of the things she’d want to do? This tournament would serve as an adequate replacement for the training he’d be missing out on anyway.

“…Hey Felix?”

“Hm?”

Her slightly wavering quiet tone caught him off guard.

“Is there…a dress code for tournaments?”

Felix furrowed his brows. “No. Why do you ask?”

“Oh, never mind then.”

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that there was a faint tinge of red spreading across her face despite her best efforts to cover it with her hands. Naturally, Felix forgot everything he just thought about prior to her question and dared to ask.

“Something apparently made you think that.”

“Yes, but apparently I was wrong.” she countered. “So it’s _apparently_ not a big deal that I noticed that nobody other than you is wearing pants.”

Felix would be lying if part of the allure of certifying in Swordsmaster or Assassin wasn’t the coverage their uniforms provided versus other classes. That said, he legitimately couldn’t tell if this was some kind of hint to do something or merely a statement over the peculiar nature of the competition’s dress.

“It’s not when a brawling tournament naturally attracts War Masters, Warriors, Grapplers & Brawlers – all classes with no pants in their uniforms. And then there’s Professor Byleth who always wears tights no matter the weather. Should I change to fit in?”

“ _—NO_. Erm, I mean, no, you’re fine. Fine as is, I mean. Oh dear.” she stammered. If her face was red before, she was positively crimson now. “I think they’re calling your name, go punch your opponent.”

“…Right. I’ll go do that.”

Felix had most definitely not heard his name but he went along with it anyway and got up. At least it would give him an excuse to count the paces between Annette’s pillar and the far side of the ring perimeter.

As he headed towards the halfway point of the training grounds’ length along the outer edges, Byleth waved him over with a gauntlet-clad arm from a few steps away from his destination.

Equal parts curious and wary — he estimated that going to the halfway point was already seven paces for him and Annette was busy staring at her feet to pay attention to where he was — Felix stopped short to keep a little distance.

“Need me for something?” he asked a little louder than he normally would have to catch Annette’s attention. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her gracelessly scramble to find a new seat the next pillar over.

“Yes. Can you come with me over here?” Byleth told him, pointing to the other side of the grounds by the entrance.

“I…” Felix pretended to stretch his arms so he could tilt his head slightly to look back at Annette to get confirmation that she’d heard that. After receiving a less-than discreet nod, he lowered his arms and gave Byleth a nod of his own. “I can.”

“Good. Annette can join us too since she’s trying to eavesdrop and I have to ask her about options anyway. You let her know about the request, right?”

Oh right, _that._

As Byleth waved Annette over to join them, he bit back the urge to string together several invectives. Why was this so important that it couldn’t wait? Weren’t they due to march out to Derdriu in a couple of days?

“I…didn’t quite have the opportunity to.” he admitted, secretly impressed with himself he’d managed to keep the venom in his tone at bay. “She was preoccupied with studying and I didn’t want to interrupt. I was going to ask after the tournament.”

As if on cue, Annette chimed in. If practically shouting could be counted as chiming, that was. “Going to ask me what, Felix?”

“Ah…Professor needs our help with a personal matter. Admittedly, I’d meant to ask you this earlier in the library.”

“Oh?”

Though she was only a few steps away at this point, he crudely motioned for Annette to come even closer to them since whispering the request in her ear wasn’t exactly an option with the training gauntlets already equipped. Not that he was entirely convinced that the professor’s errand required the utmost secrecy but, given her perpetual stone-faced expression and the odd circumstances in which he was asked to be a messenger in the first place, he couldn’t quite rule out the possibility.

And with the near-certainty that they would be sparring together in the finals, he wasn’t looking to give his opponent extra motivation. At least not this time.

When Annette bounded over, he wasted no time to get this over with and began to explain.

“Ingrid said you’re into fashion or whatever so…do you have a dress Professor can borrow that could conceal a full-length sword? She’s likely borrowing a Rapier of mine if that helps any.”

“Oh! While it’s true I am into fashion…I’m not sure that I own any layered dresses that would work with Professor’s, erm, stature since I’m not very tall.” she admitted before directing the remainder of her answer to Byleth herself, “I’d be more than happy to give you a short list of all my favorite local dress shops to you though. When did you need it by?”

“I won’t have the time to go into town, unfortunately. I wanted to have it by tomorrow.” she curtly replied. “Thank you, though.”

“What if Felix and I went into town to pick out some dresses for you after the tournament, then?”

While Byleth’s expression may have remained unchanged, the hard blink could definitely be interpreted as a sign of confusion.

“Are you going to make Felix try on dresses?” she deadpanned.

“Oh, no, no, no!” Annette stammered, going redder by the word. “I was just thinking since you asked him to help, he’d have an idea of what you’re looking for. Not to mention he can bring the sword too! I’m pretty good at judging clothes by sight so I just need to make sure it’s a bit too long for me to fit you. Besides, I think if I made Felix try on dresses he’d get stuck in them because of his broad shoulders.”

Now it was Felix’s turn for a hard blink, simultaneously in awe and fundamentally confused at what had just transpired before him. Thankfully, Byleth spared him from having to reply right away.

“If you’re able to, I would appreciate that very much.” Byleth replied before turning to him. “Only if that arrangement is alright with you too, Felix. I can give Annette the gold for the dress, food and lodging before the tournament starts.”

“Uh, that’s fine but…gold for lodging? This errand wouldn’t take long on horseback.”

Byleth nodded. “Yes, it normally wouldn’t but the reason why I can’t go myself is because I’m making travel preparations for Derdriu. Unfortunately, I cannot let you take anyone else’s horses for this errand so I anticipate you wouldn’t return past midnight. I would rather have you two come back during the daylight.”

“Fair enough.” Felix glanced over at his soon-to-be shopping companion. “Are you alright with this?”

Now it was Annette’s turn to blink, suddenly straightening up as if an invisible person had pinched her. “Oh yes, this is fine. I did volunteer you first, after all.”

“Very well.” Byleth added with a hint of a warm smile, giving Felix a firm pat on the shoulder which caused him to visibly wince. “I’ll see if I can ask the tournament organizer to have us fight each other in Round 1 so you can have more daylight for your travels.”

The swordsman snorted at the insinuation as he brushed off her hand.

“I’d wager you’ll only get more daylight to recount your coin, but sure. Be my guest.”

If it could be considered a hint before, Byleth’s grin now blossomed into a full-blown declaration.

“I’ll toss in some extra coin so you can buy more vulneraries, Fraldarius.” she teased before walking away. “You’re going to need them.”


	3. Assumptions, Arrows

“How are you feeling, Felix?”

“Better.” he admitted, moving the dampened cloth away from his right eye. “Your heal spell probably spared me from looking like the Boar.”

“I wouldn’t say that a nasty black eye is exactly what I’d consider looking like Dimitri but I’m glad it helped.” Annette commented before pointing at an uncorked vulnerary on the nightstand beside him. “You should probably drink that too though. It’ll start tasting bad if you leave it exposed to the air for much longer.”

“Right.” he admitted, placing the cloth into the small bowl of warm water on the table and reaching over to grab the bottle beside it.

As they were sitting on the opposite ends of the bed in their room at the inn the professor had graciously provided the coin for, the irony of the situation wasn’t lost on him. He’d narrowly won his bout against her and went on to win the tournament with nary a scratch only to be nearly taken out by a swinging door when he’d made the critical mistake of lagging behind Annette just enough to get warped right in front of her as she was entering the room.

After Felix finished downing the contents of the potion and the familiar tingling of the vulnerary reached all the way to his toes, he set down the container and pivoted to face her.

“I can still join you to find the dress if you want.”

“No, it’s fine. I think we have enough time to do that tomorrow morning. The shops are probably closing soon anyway. Dress shopping takes some time already when you’re looking for yourself and not trying to find something for someone else that can hide a sword.” Annette admitted. “Truth be told, this feels like a scheme like the ones Claude used to come up with. I mean, even if I did own something that would fit Professor Byleth, it just…feels like odd timing with the upcoming Derdriu march, you know?”

“I’ll admit, it seemed like an odd request when she originally asked me and Ingrid but I concluded that it didn’t matter. It was either some convoluted trust exercise like the ones she favoured during our academy days or she legitimately wanted a more inconspicuous dress to cut her foes down in. The worst that could happen is that we couldn’t find a dress that met the criterion. It’s hardly a cause for concern if we’ve made it this far already.”

“That’s true. She does only have one outfit at the moment now that I think about it. I’d probably ask other people to help out too if I was indifferent to shopping for clothes and had no time.” she agreed. Or at least she had until an idea struck her. “Or…what if she’s trying to impress someone and doesn’t know how to pick out an outfit?”

Felix raised a brow. “Impress someone? We’re in the middle of a war. The only thing people should be impressed by are victories on the battlefield and keeping casualties to a minimum.”

“Yes, to you maybe, but you never know when cupid’s arrow finds its mark. Oooo, wouldn’t it be cute if Professor Byleth likes someone and they went on a date where she’s wearing the dress we found? How exciting!”

“Ah yes, an amorous meeting where you’re pointing weapons at each other in a heated duel instead of holding hands.” he sardonically responded. “How romantic.”

“You _would_ find that romantic, Felix Hugo Fraldarius.”

“While I unironically love a good training session, that was sarcasm Annette Fantine Dominic.”

For reasons unbeknownst to him, she inched closer to the center of the bed with an intent look in her eyes.

“Was there a particular reason why she asked you and Ingrid first? I feel like there’s a missing piece of the puzzle here.”

“Didn’t seem like it. We happened to be training nearby.” he explained. “She'd just finished throwing out a broken training lance from her own sparring match with Dimitri when she asked us.”

When her eyes grew as wide as saucers, Felix wondered if he’d said the wrong thing. Then she clapped her hands together in elation.

“It all makes sense now - Dimitri is the one she’s trying to impress!”

“The Boar would be impressed that she waved a string over his head at this point. Not sure why we’d need to go through all this trouble if that was the reason.”

“Well, I wouldn’t count it out just yet. People do silly to even downright irrational things when they like someone. I mean, this month literally has a tradition about giving friends and lovers white rose garlands. I’m sure some people would find that ridiculous.”

“Theorizing about whether or not we’re playing matchmaker is ridiculous.” Felix grumbled. “Anyone who’s spent a minute within earshot of the Boar now that he’s not acting like a feral animal knows that he likes her. Me of all people saying this should be proof enough of that.”

When Annette grimaced at his statement, he was positive he’d said the wrong thing this time.

“…Are you annoyed that I’m talking about this because you like her too?”

“No, because I don’t like her.”

She almost seemed taken aback by how quickly and calmly he’d answered her. Truth be told, it had taken him by surprise too. Especially when it had belatedly hit him that they were alone together on this fool’s errand with no one around, sitting on the same bed, mere inches apart.

“…So, are you annoyed at me?” she asked in an uncharacteristically-timid voice, “I know we’re stuck in this weird situation you can’t leave because of the spell so I can stop and—”

“—I’d still be here even if I could leave.” he plainly told her. “And you’re not annoying. You’re one of the few people who never are.”

At this point, he expected her to accuse him of being a black beast in disguise with nefarious intentions or some other ridiculous charge but…the accusations never came. Instead, she proceeded to jump off the bed, walk up to the table, grab the damp cloth he’d put away and press it against his forehead instead of his black eye.

“You’re clearly feverish.” she declared. “I think you need to go lie down and get some rest.”

Never mind the reason why they kept warping into each other, her statement became a self-fulfilling prophecy as he warmed at her touch and general proximity. As he gently removed the cloth from under her palm to put it back in the bowl and mustered up the courage to shift his body just enough so he could look her squarely in the eyes, Felix accepted that he wouldn’t make it out of this ill-advised trip with his dignity intact.

“I’ve never lied to you Annette.” he responded. “What good would it do to start now?”

“Says the man who was complaining about the conversation we just had.”

Felix let out a long sigh. “I never said I was adept at social niceties. I said lying is a waste of time. There’s a difference.”

“Alright, then.” she challenged. “In the spirit of unbridled honesty, what was annoying you if it wasn’t me?”

He let out a second sigh. “What’s annoying me is me. I will admit that it doesn’t matter to me whether or not if the professor sent us here by design or on a whim or if she is infatuated with the Boar. What matters is that I keep making this odd situation worse and I don’t know how to make it better for you.”

“That makes two of us, I suppose.” Annette somberly confessed. “When Manuela said this wouldn’t end until I stopped thinking about my mistake, I was terrified that you’d resent me forever if I couldn’t. I thought that the tournament and this trip would be good enough distractions so…if I sound a bit all over the place, it's because I'm still a little shaken over warping you into the door.”

“Annette, I wouldn’t resent you for something you couldn’t control.” he reassured. “We’ll get through this - you just need to give yourself time like Manuela said.”

“I’d ask if you meant that but that, um, would be kind of redundant considering well… everything you said a minute ago so I’m going to ask you something else. If that’s alright, that is.”

“It is.”

“Other than the dress shopping we still have to do, can you promise me you won’t do anything that you wouldn’t normally do before the spell runs its course? I don’t want you to tell me something like, _‘I’m up for anything, Annie!’_ and then I find out later that we did a bunch of things you really hated because you felt like you couldn’t say no.”

“I can promise you that. I can also promise you I won’t ever say _‘I’m up for anything, Annie’_ unless I’m feeling particularly charitable or drunk enough to do a terrible impression of Mercedes.” he dryly responded.

“Good. Remind me to keep you away from any sort of ale because the idea of you imitating Mercie is downright terrifying." she joked with a giggle. "And on that note, we should probably get some food before the inn’s pub stops taking food orders. Sound like a plan?”

“It does. But I need to ask you something in return first.”

“Sure, go ahead Felix.”

“I don’t want the bed tonight. Promise me you’ll take it.”

“What? No!” Annette protested. “You literally took a door to the face because of me. You need the bed more than I do.”

“The door hit my face, not my back. I’ll live. The room has an extra pillow and blanket I can use.”

“The room also has a bed. Which you should also use.” she countered, taking a step forward and patting a section of mattress beside him for emphasis. Had her whole argument not hinged on the fact he was currently sporting a black eye, Felix suspected she would have jabbed him in the chest with her pointer finger based on the awkward arc of the motion.

His theory was swiftly disproven when she decided to sit directly beside him in that very spot she’d pat down, however. If he had any lingering hopes of retaining any dignity, they were surely dashed now. 

“How about a compromise Felix. We can use the spare pillow as a makeshift divider wall.”

“With what space? It’s not a wide bed.”

“I think it’s wide enough – just watch.”

Before he could protest further, Annette scooted over to the other side of the bed and laid on her side. She then proceeded to pluck the pillow between them and oriented it so the short side was perpendicular to the headboard before trying and failing to prop it up for extra height. Once she was three attempts in, Felix had enough of the shenanigans so he leaned over her pillow barrier.

“That’s only going to work if we’re facing back-to-back and resting completely prone on our sides like lances. Neither of us will get a good night’s rest if we’re both on the bed.”

“Felix, the more I think about things, the more I'm starting to believe we’re not going to get a good night’s rest no matter what we do.” she said in exasperation, grabbing the pillow from between them to absentmindedly hug it.

“I’ve slept on much worse before, it’s fine.”

“-No, that’s not what I mean.” she clarified, finally deciding to sit up properly. “What I mean is, there’s too much happening to sleep properly. And I’m not just talking about the way people usually don’t sleep the night before a big event because I doubt this errand we’re doing for the professor counts.”

Unsure of where she was going with this, he remained silent.

“I was convinced you liked Professor Byleth before we got here. It all seemed to add up. And yet, I couldn’t get over how quick you were to say you didn’t.”

_Oh no._

“Is it a crime to not like someone?”

“No. But it made me realize that I had it all backwards before, especially after you made a point to say you were frustrated that you wanted this situation to be _better_ for _me_ , not just tolerable for us.”

This prolonged proximity was going to be the death of him and yet he couldn’t find the will to move. Or the will to protest against the inevitable.

“You…like _me_ , don’t you?”

“…And if I do?” he replied thickly.

“If you do,” she quietly repeated before covering the better part of her face with the pillow she was hugging, “…then I want you to know that I like you back. And that I’ll let you sleep on the floor if that’s what you really want because I meant what I said about not forcing you to have any _'anything, Annie'_ moments.”

"Thank you. I appreciate that."

Long after the words left his mouth and they remained firmly locked in an unspoken stalemate, the swordsman took it upon himself to break it by gently pulling the pillow away from her and set it aside.

“…We should probably go downstairs.”

“We should. We really should. Our tummies might start rumbling if we don’t.”

They really should have, but Felix decided to eat his own words instead when a quick glance her way pulled him in close enough to tentatively reach out for her hand to grasp it in his. Thankfully, Annette didn’t seem to mind the change in plans when she returned the favour by intertwining their fingers together. All bets were off when she chastely kissed him on the cheek and then some, though.

They’d already come to terms with the high likelihood they weren’t going to sleep much tonight, after all.

And it was becoming increasingly clear that neither of them was particularly hungry for actual food.


End file.
